Playmates

Xena was bored. She was sick of all of Ares' priests and priestess'. All they did all day was gossip and clean. They even ignored the people who came into the temple to worship Ares. That was something that Xena really didn't like, though.

Not that she was going to do anything about it, because Ares didn't really care about the people that worshipped him, not unless they were important, like warlords and warriors.

Being the mischievous little imp that Ares saw her as, Xena played a little trick on the first person she came across. She materialized on a road, still unseen to the mortal eye. Xena saw a young man up ahead, riding in a cart, with some sacks in the back.

With a giggle, Xena watched as one of the wheels on the cart fell off. The young man sighed as he put the reigns aside, then got down from the cart. The little goddess stood by as he managed to put the wheel back on. The man paused to wipe some sweat from his face...

Xena moved about ten paces in front of the horse, and made it so that only the horse could see her. She made a piece of an apple appear in her hand and called to the horse. Just as the man put his hands on the cart, to get back in, the horse moved forward to Xena, and began eating the piece of apple out of her hand.

The man shook his head in confusion. The horse finished the apple piece just as the man started toward the horse. Xena made herself move up the road yet another ten paces with another piece of apple, and once again, called the horse.

The Goddess Of Discord soon became bored with the game and disappeared, leaving an apple for the horse as she left.

There were lots of animals around in the market, and lots of stalls with pretty things for sale. It was the stall with weapons and a few animals that caught her eye. Still unable to be seen, she picked up dagger and threw it at the wall behind the mortal that stood on the other side of the display table.

She collapsed into a fit of giggles as the man stood completely still, frozen as daggers flew at him. He collapsed in a faint. Xena admired her handiwork. The crooked line of daggers looked just like the man's outline...

Next, Xena went over to the stall with the chickens. She saw the woman who was looking after the stall yelling at the chickens because of the noise. A twinkle entered Xena's icy blue eyes as she pulled the catch on the five cages and forced the fifteen fowl out.

The last thing she saw of the woman, she was running around the market, trying to catch her chickens...

Later on, Xena noticed a small boy at the edge of town. He was watching the other children play with a ball, but the other children were all ignoring him. It looked to Xena that the other children didn't want to play with him.

Xena materialized behind him. She tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped, then turned around to face her. "Hello," she greeted brightly.

It wasn't until she really looked at him, that she noticed that he was older than her by a couple of years. "Do you wanna play with me?" she asked, as she pulled a ball from behind her.

She shrugged. "We can go to your place. My friends won't mind." She took his hand and started running. "Come on!"

They made it to his place in a couple of minutes. After the shock had worn off, he ran in front of her, laughing the whole way. He's kinda cute...Xena's five-year-old mind thought.

When they got in his yard, Xena kicked him the ball, and laughed when she kicked it a little too hard, hitting him in the chest and knocking him on his ass. "Oops! Sorry!"

After about half an hour, the boy's mother came out of the house with some milk for them. "Hello, dear." She turned to her son. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"

The woman gave her son a reproachful look as she introduced herself. "I'm Alcmene, and this is my son, Hercules."

Xena bit her lip. "I don't have any, but I have a guardian, and he's pretty cool. He let's me do anything, 'on the stipulation that it won't hurt me'..." she quoted.

"Oh, I'm sorry about your parents, Xena. Well, if your guardian says it's-" she broke off as someone appeared behind Xena.

She turned around to face the person as Hercules glared at the figure behind her. Xena gave an exaggerated gulp when she saw Zeus standing there. "Oh-oh...I'm in trouble, aren't I?" she murmured to herself.

Xena stuck out her bottom lip and put her hands on her hips, adopting an attitude. "Well, what are you doing here?"

Zeus held back a small smile at the girl's attitude. She was still the most adorable thing on Olympus... "I'm visiting my son, Xena..."

The young goddess pouted. "But it's so boring! I wanted to play with somebody, and I found Hercules, so we played with a ball for a while." She looked down at her feet, her mouth trembling, attempting to get out any punishment.

Zeus looked at Hercules and Alcmene, before turning to Xena. "It's not up to me," he told her sadly.

The King Of The Gods sighed. "It's not either of you I'm worried about. Xena's guardian isn't going to like this..."

Hercules stood in front of Xena. "She's my friend now! Why can't she come back?" he said bravely.

Suddenly, the sky turned dark, and the sound of war drums could be heard all over Greece. Zeus grumbled as Xena started kicking the dirt in front of her.

The child ran up to him and hugged his legs. "I'm sorry, Ares, but I was just so bored...and then I went and played with this horse, then messed around in the market, then I played with Hercules, and now Zeus says you won't let me stay, and I want to come back, Ares...plllleeeeeaaaaasssssseeeeee??????????" It was entertaining to see the young goddess holding onto Ares' legs for dear life, while forcing her speech out in a single breath.

Ares picked her up and brought her to eye level. "I don't like him." Xena pouted. "He's not good enough for you..." Her lower lip trembled. "He's half mortal..." A single tear escaped her watery, ice blue eyes. "He's my bastard half-brother..." A small sob escaped her throat.

Ares groaned as he brought her close and hugged her tight, rubbing her small back tenderly. "Okay, you can come back tomorrow and play with him..."

The sob, tears, and pouty lips all disappeared as she grinned and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck. "Yay! Thank you, Ares!" she squealed, before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Love you, Ares..." she whispered.

Xena turned to Zeus and winked. Everyone but Ares saw this and held back a laugh. The God Of War put his charge down and glared at Hercules. "If anything happens to her, I'll come back here and personally tear you apart, half-brother or not. Understand?"

He turned to his father. "Never mess with me when it comes to Xena, old man..." Ares issued his own warning. "Come on, sweet," he said to Xena, holding out his hand.

She waved goodbye to her new friend and his mother, then to Zeus, before grabbing Ares' hand and disappearing with him in a flash of blue light...